Cranking it up a notch
Realism, plot development, subtlety. Nope, you’ve come to the wrong place in Crank 2: High Voltage. Alternatively, if it’s high-octane, jump-cut, speed, and mayhem you’re after, you’ll welcome back the Crank franchise like a long-lost, if slightly disturbed, brother. All the originals are back, including Derek Statham as hitman Chev Chelios — who launches himself into an electrifying chase through Los Angeles in pursuit of the Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart. Yes, you read that right. One for the converted.
In I Love You, Man, Paul Rudd embarks on a series of man-dates to find the best friend he never had — and ideally someone to be best man at his upcoming wedding. Jason Segel eventually rocks up as an unlikely candidate for a something-less-than-beautiful friendship. Rudd pulls off his usual man-next-door embarrassing but charming routine with customary ease. Plenty of funny moments.
Race to Witch Mountain is a Disney remake of the 1975 film Escape from Witch Mountain, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson starring as a Las Vegas cab driver who finds himself caught up in a race to save the world. Can the brother and sister team in his back seat use their supernatural powers to fend off a nasty mobster and unravel the secrets of the mysterious Witch Mountain? Great fun for kids.
Northern exposure
In Fifty Dead Men Walking, Kevin Zegers plays the passionate IRA soldier whose best mate is recruited by the British to inform on his terrorist comrades, a compelling true story and edge-of-the-seat thriller. Watching the movie, on the strength of Zegers’ performance and Northern Irish accent, if you weren’t aware he was Canadian, you’d never guess he wasn’t Belfast born and bred. “That was sort of the idea going in,” says the actor with a satisfied smile. “I’m glad that people are saying that.”
Zegers says he got the gig courtesy of director Kari Skogland, who had worked with him previously on sweeping drama The Stone Angel (2007 ). “The challenging thing for me was that the character I wanted to play was completely the opposite of who I am, and only somebody like Kari, somebody who already trusted me and knew what I could do, would have even let me through the door.”
Together with his English co-star Jim Sturgess, Zegers was determined to nail the Belfast accent. “They said it’s one of the hardest accents to learn but Jim and I showed up about a month before filming and we got to work on it straight away. Obviously we worked with our dialect coaches, but what really helped were the pub crawls we went on every night in Belfast. It was our goal, not just to convince movie audiences that we were local, but to convince the guys sitting in the pub.”
And they succeeded. “Yeah, we did,” he agrees, “although getting pissed in the pub every night, we had to keep reminding each other why were there! But by the time we started shooting, not only was the accent comfortable, but the city was comfortable, and we felt comfortable in it.”
As for the politics of the situation, Zegers is careful not to pass judgment. “The thing we realised is that, for better or worse, and no matter which side you were on, it was just a mess. There was never going to be a good ending to it. Even though my character’s a very close-minded person, I personally tried to be as open-minded as possible. If anything, I left with a little bit of knowledge, but not necessarily an opinion.
“Honestly I believe that anyone who wasn’t there, in the midst of it, if they have an opinion, I feel it’s unfounded and a little bit irresponsible. Ultimately the conclusion that I came to, after three or four months of being there, is that I have a very fortunate life.”
Spending several months in Belfast while working flat out on the movie, says Zegers, was an invaluable, maturing experience. “Transitioning from being a little shit-eating kid to sort of a man, it was a good place for me to be, because you get a big fat dose of life while you’re there. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
“If you were successful as a child actor, you need to get rid of a lot of bad habits. When you’re young, it’s very much about being cute and funny, but that doesn’t serve any purpose as an adult. When you get older, you have to accept that you know very little about what you’re doing, as that’s the only way to grow. The trouble with most young actors who went through what I did is they feel they know it all.”
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